to know why it is that we have never yet come upon a sandy patch where
we made a fire."

Embayments of this kind they found again and again during the next few
days of their, so to speak, imprisonment in this labyrinth, and in which
they were fain to halt for food and sleep; but whether the flood had
obliterated all signs of their occupation, or whether the places were
absolutely fresh, they never knew.

One thing was determined on, and that to keep on with dogged British
obstinacy till the problem was solved, and after losing count of the
days that they had spent in the forest, and after vain usage of the
compass, which had only seemed to lead them more and more astray, they
had their reward one noon, when the boat was run up on to the sand of a
forest nook which seemed strikingly familiar, and Rodd and Morny both
sprang out, gun in hand, followed by Joe Cross, who excitedly cried--

"All right, gentlemen! Here we are at last! I'd just swear to this
tree and that other big one right across the river."

"Yes," cried the doctor; "this, I am quite certain, is where we set up
our tent the night we missed our guide."

"The morning, uncle," cried Rodd. "Yes, boy; I should have said the
morning. Look, Morny! You do not speak. Isn't this our last
halting-place on our way up?"

The French lad gave his hands a despairing wave in the air.

"Yes," he said; "that's what I feel, sir. Why, we have been all these
weary, weary days trying to get back to the river so that we might row
away to the brig, and this is the spot from which we started!"

"Well, gentlemen," cried Joe Cross, "I say hooray to that. Yes, this is
the place, aren't it, messmates?"

"Yes, yes," came in an excited chorus, for the discovery seemed to have
sent a thrill of joy through all the men.

"That's right, messmates," cried Joe. "Then all we have got to do now,
gentlemen, is to try and take our bearings right, rub the wet dust out
of all our eyes, and make a fresh start."

"The wet dust, Joe!" cried Rodd, with the nearest approach to a smile
which had appeared upon his face for many days. "Here, uncle, get out
the compass, and let's see what we can do with that."

"No," said the doctor quietly. "We must make a fresh start, but it must
be calmly and well, and after food and a good night's rest. Collect
wood, my lads, to make a fire. Boys, take your guns and go up-stream a
little higher where we have never been before, and shoot what bir